Chapter 1019 Knowing It All

On April 20th in the middle of the week, both Manchester City and Manchester City teams need to play a make-up match. Manchester United will face the undemanding Crystal Palace team at home, while Manchester City will have to chew on the tough nut of Tottenham in North London.

In order to consider the double red meeting at the weekend, Sun Wu made a large rotation. Kante, Van Dijk, and Sun Wu were all hidden. But what surprised the media was the center position, with Harry Kane sitting on the bench and even Falcao. None of them have made the squad, and the starting center is Rashford, who has basically had no chance to play this season.

Klopp looked at Rashford, who was wearing jersey No. 39, with confusion. This little guy from Manchester United's youth training has played a total of 5 times this season, all in the FA Cup and League Cup. Although he scored in 5 appearances, Scored 3 goals and performed well.

But the problem is that even if Falcao and Harry Kane are abandoned, Sun Wu does not have no replacement candidates. In the past two years, Griezmann was often promoted to play center. Why use Rashford?

Klopp's thoughts began to wander, what happened to Falcao and Harry Kane?

injured?

I got sick?

Did you get into trouble with Sun Wu?

There is no news in this regard...Klopp's eyes flickered. Is this guy Best going to put out smoke bombs again?

To be honest, Sun Wu is not satisfied with Rashford's progress in the past two years, and his status in the team is not high, much worse than Lingard. He is basically a marginal player. If there are no accidents, he will be next season. Being loaned out for exercise.

Well, it would be great if he can be loaned to Van Gaal, and the Dutchman can help him with his homework.

Rashford's performance in this game was still average, but Lingard's performance was great. He sprinted at high speed during a counterattack near the end of the first half, received Mane's cross from the back of the penalty area, and scored the first goal. record.

Although the Crystal Palace team launched a wave of offensive in the second half, Sun Wu never had the intention to play in person. The midfield composed of Fabinho, Herrera and Lingard was enough to cope with it.

Until the 70th minute of the second half, Sun Wu replaced the mediocre Rashford with Griezmann. Klopp in the stands mustered up energy to carefully look at the French forward's position.

In a very conventional position, Griezmann stands between the two Crystal Palace center backs like a center forward, and is also at the forefront when defending.

Although Griezmann's intimidation in the penalty area cannot be compared with Falcao and Harry Kane, the Crystal Palace defense appears to be very disorganized.

This gives Griezmann room to perform.

In the 78th minute, Salah intercepted the ball from the right and cut inside. After a collision with Lingard, the Egyptian went outside and made a pass. Griezmann shot from the front and scored to make the score 2-2. 0.

In the 83rd minute, Mane attracted many defensive players to the left rib and made a direct pass. Lucas made a pass. Griezmann found an opportunity between the two central defenders and scored with a header.

3-0, Manchester United easily scored 3 points, Griezmann also scored the 25th goal in the league, everything was perfect.

But Sun Wu on the sidelines and Klopp in the stands both frowned.

Both men are thinking about the same issue, Manchester United's center forward.

But the two people were thinking in completely opposite directions.

In the absence of Harry Kane and Falcao, Griezmann will be the first choice for center, but it is doubtful whether the French forward can defeat Bailly as a guest center, because it is already difficult to play anything tactically. It's a trick, Klopp knows Manchester United too well.

And Klopp was thinking about what tricks Best wanted to play. Griezmann's physical fitness was difficult to withstand Matip and Bailly. Playing as a center completely gave up his own advantages, and Liverpool was in the double red. There will definitely not be a long-term high-position press during the meeting, and the defense will definitely ensure the numerical advantage.

Sun Wu thought for a while, pondering Griezmann's experience playing center in the previous two seasons.

In the first season, Griezmann often played center, but Klose often started in key games, and Thomas Muller's interspersed running without the ball gave Griezmann a lot of space.

When Lukaku came in the second season, Griezmann would only play as center when the former was injured.

This season, Griezmann has basically never played center, with Harry Kane and Falcao present.

Although Griezmann scored twice today, this is related to the weak defenders of the Crystal Palace team, and does Griezmann have so much room for movement in the Double Reds?

Sun Wu was very sure that after suffering so many defeats, Klopp would never rush into a high position.

After last year's Champions League final, Cruyff once published an article in the column of "Catalunya Sports" discussing the advantages and disadvantages of high-position pressing, which attracted a lot of attention in the industry.

Since Barcelona's extensive use of high-pressing tactics to win the Triple Crown in 2008, this tactic has gradually become the standard for major European clubs.

The advantage is very obvious. Let the flames of war burn in the opponent's half for a long time, resolve most crises in advance, try to form a numerical advantage in the situation, and attack on the spot after stealing the ball will often achieve good results.

But the disadvantages are also quite obvious. The defense lacks protection and is easy to be broken through by attackers with strong personal abilities. Pato's 24-second blitz against Barcelona is an example.

Therefore, in the battle between giants, how to break the high press has become an important issue. Cruyff took Manchester City's Champions League group match against Barcelona last season as an example. Both sides played a good game and successfully broke the opponent's High press.

At that time, Cruyff mentioned Manchester United's Sun Wu at the end of the article. In that Champions League final, Sun Wu used his unparalleled vision and passing ability to tear apart Barcelona's high pressing tactics many times, and successfully counterattacked several times. .

In Cruyff's words, Sun Wu may be the best at cracking high-post pressing tactics. This has a lot to do with his tactical ability, passing ability, and running ability.

Sun Wu can find loopholes in the opponent's defense and deliver fatal passes, and he can also achieve breakthroughs in unexpected ways. His running and passing skills also allow him to organize small-scale passes and cuts to break high-position presses.

In the final analysis, Sun Wu has enough confidence in the face of a high-position press that has obvious effects but also obvious disadvantages.

This article was recognized by many people in the industry. Therefore, although Manchester United won 22 consecutive victories this season, Liverpool and Manchester City both caused a lot of trouble to Sun Wu. Neither Klopp nor Guardiola frequently played high positions. When pressing, unless absolutely necessary, enough manpower is deployed in the midfield and backfield.

In the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, Manchester United drew with Bayern Munich 2-2 in a thrilling away game. This was a game in which Manchester United performed relatively poorly this season.

Heynckes' Bayern Munich happens to be one of the few European giants that never uses the overall high-pressing tactic. This is by no means a coincidence.

Sun Wu knows this well, and Klopp also knows it well.